Colorado Trail

Thinking of hiking the Colorado Trail? Colorado’s famous long distance trail, almost 500 miles, runs from Denver to Durango. The Trail passes through six wilderness areas, crossing eight mountain ranges, totaling a climb of 89,354 feet.

In 2004, the Colorado Trail celebrated their 30th anniversary. It was the regional forrester, Bill Lucas, who gave a talk to the Colorado Mountain Club on November 3, 1970. Lucas proposed a hiking trail from Denver to Durango, calling it The Rocky Mountain Trail. The plan for the Trail was launched in 1974, with a goal to develop a non-vehicular trail system, with the Roicky Mountain Trail serving as the backbone. The Colorado Trail Takes Shape in Colorado Magazine. At that time, the activity of backpacking was in it’s infancy, when most equipment was imported from Europe. Today, there is a Colorado Trail Foundation, Wilderness Areas, and ever growing use of the outdoors as part of an active lifestyle.

Our trail guide uses the Trail Widgets from thehikingproject.com to support hikers in planning for the Trail.

The Trail is broken up into 28 segments with access points for each section. Thru hikers should plan for a four to six week journey for the complete trail.

The Colorado Trail Hiker is a smartphone guide for your Colorado Trail hiking or mountain biking trip. The free demo is a fully functional version of the app with Segment 1 of The Colorado Trail (Miles 0 to 16.8 from the Waterton Canyon Trailhead outside Denver). In-app purchases include (1) The Colorado Trail, which includes the hiking route, the five mountain bike wilderness detours, the Collegiate West Alternative route and the Collegiate Loop (775.2 miles of trail in total) and (2) a standalone version of the Collegiate Loop route (a 160.4-mile loop composed of the 82.3-mile Collegiate West Alternative route and a 78.1-mile portion of The Colorado Trail).”